Advice : Approaching a pontoon with a strong current?

[wipe_out]

Hi,

Had a great weekend on the boat except for one approach to a pontoon where the current was very strong onto the pontoon..

I needed to get along side a pontoon.. I noticed the strong current pushing onto the pontoon and the plan of action was to bring the bow quite close before turning and then letting the current push the stern around.. Seemed a good plan in my head..

In reality I was battling to maintain a slow approach speed to the pontoon so was using a fair amount of reverse to overcome the current.. Then the current seem to catch the back of the boat and swung the stern around at quite a pace which meant the stern was quickly going to overtake the bow en-route to the pontoon and the boat would hit the corner of the pontoon at an angle making the fenders pretty useless.. I did what I could with the engine (single outdrive) and at the last minute put it into neutral then ran and jumped onto the pontoon and tried to push the boat away.. It worked but I still hit the corner of the pontoon pretty hard, hard enough to have wood scuff marks on the hull.. I think if I hadn't jumped and pushed away I might have had some nasty damage.. Once that was over the boat pushed up against the pontoon and I could relax..

Did I have the right idea for my "planned" approach even though it went wrong?

What advice do you have for approaching a pontoon with a strong "on" current in a single outdrive 25ft boat?

Thanks..

 

[oGaryo]

Presume you wanted to have the stern in that direction. Firstly, I'm not an expert at this stuff but this is what I'd have done. I would have ferry glided with the stern further in towards the pontoon than the bow by about 30 degrees using reverse to keep the boat level to where you want to end up. throw a stern line on when close enough and that'll bring the bow in or steer away from the pontoon to achieve the same when almost there. Better to practice with the bow into the current though

 

[oGaryo]

ignore all that, just re-read and spotted the current wasn't running parallel to the pontoon, sorrry

 

[kashurst]

I think you had it mostly right - take the bow to the pontoon first with the stern facing the current and as you describe using reverse to counter the current, except that you almost want to be perpendicular to the pontoon until you are really close then steering hard over and again use the engine in reverse to counter the current and control the speed of approach of the stern. You want a big ball fender over the bow on the approaching side. Did you have any crew - if so get a rope onto a pontoon cleat from the bow when you are very close to control your position relative to the pontoon.

Easy in theory - on the day though you did much better than I probably would have, but be careful about jumping off and trying to stop the boat - that bit was a mistake I think, people end up with broken bits doing that. Keep a fender on a rope available with someone ready to put it in the right place to take the shock. Worst case gel coat is cheap - arms and legs are not.

Don't worry too much about getting a few scratches - they fix easily enough, all those super shiny mark free boats you see in marinas - they never go anywhere.

 

[burgundyben]

Also worth saying, in some instances where an awkward berth or limitations of the boats a maneuverability require it, its not bad seamanship to moor the boat in a different place and warp it across to where you want it.

 

[symondo]

also in the process of learning this kind of thing so...

What would be the implications of turning the boat round and using forward gear to fight the current and 'reverse' moor it? or would that be even harder to get right?

 

[wipe_out]

I think you had it mostly right - take the bow to the pontoon first with the stern facing the current and as you describe using reverse to counter the current, except that you almost want to be perpendicular to the pontoon until you are really close then steering hard over and again use the engine in reverse to counter the current and control the speed of approach of the stern. You want a big ball fender over the bow on the approaching side. Did you have any crew - if so get a rope onto a pontoon cleat from the bow when you are very close to control your position relative to the pontoon.

Easy in theory - on the day though you did much better than I probably would have, but be careful about jumping off and trying to stop the boat - that bit was a mistake I think, people end up with broken bits doing that. Keep a fender on a rope available with someone ready to put it in the right place to take the shock. Worst case gel coat is cheap - arms and legs are not.

Don't worry too much about getting a few scratches - they fix easily enough, all those super shiny mark free boats you see in marinas - they never go anywhere.

Thanks.. Good to know that what I had in mind was on the right track.. As you say I probably came in with a bit of an angle where I should have been more perpendicular and that swung the stern around before I was ready.. I had one crew who was up on the bow where I expected they would need to be and I was closest to the stern where it was all happening..

I agree in hind sight grabbing a fender and getting it between the pontoon and the boat would have been the better choice than jumping off and trying to reduce the impact but it was spur of the moment reaction..

Pretty sure this situation will come up again so at least next time I will be better prepared for what's going to happen..

 

[wipe_out]

also in the process of learning this kind of thing so...

What would be the implications of turning the boat round and using forward gear to fight the current and 'reverse' moor it? or would that be even harder to get right?

I guess it's another option but not one that I think would work very well on my boat.. On my boat the outdrive extends past the swim platform so I couldn't actually get right up to the pontoon with the stern of the boat.. If I got close and then brought the bow around the current would take it and it would come around to the pontoon quite fast with very little I could do about it (no thruster to slow the bow) but all the fenders along the side would probably be fine to absorb the impact.. So maybe it's doable but I think I prefer approaching forward..

 

[kashurst]

re Symondos question: with just one engine and bow to the current it would be really difficult to keep the bow facing the flow at mooring speed. Pretty tricky with two engines. If you tried this it is very likely the current would take control of the bow and spin the boat around - at exactly the wrong moment! The thing to remember when handling boats is that they steer from the back, not the front. You dont have much control over the bow even with a bow thruster. So plan your approach to get the bow close first and tidy up with the stern.

 

[John100156]

To park port-to: I would probably have put my biggest fenders on port bow, approach straight ahead and perpendicular using astern to hang the boat, if its twisting, take it out again! Then, when close, helm hard over to port with a short blip astern (to get it moving in the right rotation/direction). You then have the opportunity to blip forward without any helm to slow the stern coming-in as you roll on the fenders, assuming you have enough space of course..... roaming fender a must! And if you get it wrong don't worry, GRP is easy to repair and lets face it, it's like skating on ice sometimes, we all get it wrong from time-to-time.

 

[gjgm]

If someone was about the pontoon, shout and ask them to take a line, but just make sure you know , and they know, what it is you want them to do. Nothing wrong in admitting this is a tricky one...
Nothing wrong in concluding that it is just too difficult, and asking the marina for another berth!
Make a note of the the tide times, and avoid the worst of it.
If it is your usual berth, no harm in getting some pontoon fenders.. this is supposed to be fun, so maybe that takes some stress out.
Couple of weeks ago, after 4 attempts, I gave up; decided to find something else to do that smash up the boat

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You have my sympathy. Many years ago I was in a similar situation trying to moor my single outdrive engined Searay against a pontoon at Chelsea Harbour on the Thames against a fierce ebb tide. Like you I crunched the hull against a corner of the pontoon but in my case, I actually put a hole in the hull (fortunately above the waterline). That spoiled my weekend big time. That and a couple of other near misses taught me never to be afraid of, firstly, turning down a berth if I felt I couldn't safely make it in and, secondly, asking for help from marina staff. Of course the other thing I learnt is to time arrivals and departures for slack water.
And you never stop learning. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got caught out trying to reverse my boat into a tight stern-to Med berth in a crosswind which turned out to be stronger than I thought. Fortunately I had requested the assistance of the marina staff and they managed to push me off the boat next door with their RIB before I impaled my boat on his anchor. One thing about boating is that it has a habit of kicking you in the goolies if you get too complacent about your boat handling skills

 

[alant]

Hi,

Had a great weekend on the boat except for one approach to a pontoon where the current was very strong onto the pontoon..

I needed to get along side a pontoon.. I noticed the strong current pushing onto the pontoon and the plan of action was to bring the bow quite close before turning and then letting the current push the stern around.. Seemed a good plan in my head..

In reality I was battling to maintain a slow approach speed to the pontoon so was using a fair amount of reverse to overcome the current.. Then the current seem to catch the back of the boat and swung the stern around at quite a pace which meant the stern was quickly going to overtake the bow en-route to the pontoon and the boat would hit the corner of the pontoon at an angle making the fenders pretty useless.. I did what I could with the engine (single outdrive) and at the last minute put it into neutral then ran and jumped onto the pontoon and tried to push the boat away.. It worked but I still hit the corner of the pontoon pretty hard, hard enough to have wood scuff marks on the hull.. I think if I hadn't jumped and pushed away I might have had some nasty damage.. Once that was over the boat pushed up against the pontoon and I could relax..

Did I have the right idea for my "planned" approach even though it went wrong?

What advice do you have for approaching a pontoon with a strong "on" current in a single outdrive 25ft boat?

Thanks..

Don't forget, that you can only 'steer' your boat, if you are going faster than the current you are in, or alternatively, stemming the current, in order to get water flowing over the rudder, or outdrive.

Otherwise, you are at the mercy of the current & just drifting.

 

[lisilou]

We're berthed at the Jolly Sailor end of Swanwick Marina and on a spring ebb it's a bugger. The rate and direction of the ebb tide can and does cause major problems if you're a visitor caught unawares. I'm used to it now and am more fortunate in that a) I have twin engines and a bow thruster and b) I have only the pontoon to crash into if I balls the entrance up. However, the empty berth the other side of that pontoon is a big no no on a spring ebb and every boat I've witnessed trying to pull in there at the height of a spring ebb has either had to abort after several attempts and re-locate or it's resulted in collision with the poor bertholder next to it. Need less to say, the bertholder is getting mightily peed off!
On saturday, a visitor had been allocated this berth and he duly arrived at peak ebb. I stood on the pontoon ready to grab a line if by some miracle he managed to get that far. This is not to demean his boating skills in any way, he was clearly an experienced boater...it's just simply a nightmare at that state of tide. However, true to form, the first attempt had to be aborted as did the 2nd, 3rd and 4th attempts. There was simply no way at that particular time he was going to succeed but despite us advising him to give it up as a lost cause, he was determined and shrugged our advice off with a 'Oh of course I can get in there!' Well...he was dragged sideways, spun around etc etc and still he was adamant he could do it. Eventually one of the marina guys came running down to direct him elsewhere (they'd tried via VHF but he was ignoring their calls) and he finally admitted defeat much, I'm sure, to his disgust.
Much better to either avoid such berths or, if not possible, time it for slack. Just not worth the stress or potential damage.
L